New Zealand captain Sophie Devine led from the front with an unbeaten 57 in her team’s 58-run win over India in their opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup on Friday.
Devine, who hit seven fours in a late blast, steered New Zealand to 160-4 despite a stutter after she had elected to bat first in Dubai.
Medium-pace bowlers Rosemary Mair and Lea Tahuhu then shared seven wickets to bowl out India for 102 in 19 overs to end New Zealand’s 10-match losing streak.
“It was tough work out there, pace off and trying to find the gaps,” player of the match Devine said.
“A bit scratchy to start with. Just really happy to contribute. We’ve worked so hard over the last six months, nice to see the team get their reward.”
New Zealand started strongly with a brisk opening stand of 67 between Suzie Bates, who made 27, and Georgia Plimmer, who hit 34.
Bates survived a reprieve on 18 when wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh dropped a skier as the ball popped out off her gloves off the bowling of Arundhati Reddy.
The bowler finally had Bates caught at deep mid-wicket in her next over for the first breakthrough.
Plimmer followed her opening partner three balls later caught off leg-spinner Asha Sobhana.
Controversy erupted when skipper Harmanpreet Kaur ran out Amelia Kerr with a throw from the deep to the wicketkeeper, who whipped the bails off, but the umpire called the batter back because the ball had been ‘dead’.
Kaur remained unhappy and had a long discussion with the umpires before grudgingly getting back to the game, but Kerr was out, caught, two balls later in the next over.
Devine stood firm and took the attack to the opposition with regular boundaries. She reached her fifty with a four as New Zealand hit 37 runs off the last three overs.
The 35-year-old Devine will step down as captain at the end of the tournament after playing in every World Cup, earning two runner-up finishes.
India were never in the chase after losing openers Shafali Verma, for two, and Smriti Mandhana, for 12, inside the first five overs. Both fell to Eden Carson’s off-spin.
Mair had Kaur lbw for 15 to further dent the chase and finished off the match with two successive wickets to return figures of 4-19.
Tahuhu rattled the middle-order including Jemimah Rodrigues, Ghosh and Deepti Sharma.
“We didn’t play our best cricket,” said Kaur. “Going forward we know every game is important”
India will next take on arch-rivals Pakistan in a blockbuster on Sunday at the same venue.
New Zealand will face Australia in Sharjah on Tuesday.
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